PREDICTION: Forecasting a 2024 Running Back to the Oregon Ducks
Oregon football has been operating quietly behind the scenes on the recruiting trail.
After a strong summer, all eyes are on 2024 Yelm (Wash.) linebacker Brayden Platt, who's set to announce his college commitment on September 4. I logged my prediction for Oregon earlier this summer and he continues to look like he's trending to the Ducks.
But now it's time for another prediction on a top Oregon target.
Today I'm predicting 2024 Seattle (Wash.) O'Dea running back Jason Brown Jr. to commit to Oregon.
Confidence meter: 6.5/10
Explaining the Pick
If you read some my 'Prospect Pulse' from last week you know that this is a pick I've been leaning toward making for a while.
Brown has had high interest in Oregon for a long time and the frequency with which he visits the school certainly backs that up. He placed the Ducks in his top three schools along with Washington and Michigan State earlier this month.
I don't believe Washington is much of a contender here as Kalen DeBoer doesn't appear to be prioritizing keeping in-state players home. That said, I view Michigan State as the main threat to Oregon after hosting Brown for an official visit earlier this summer.
Carlos Locklyn has done a great job in this recruitment since joining Oregon's staff and you can bet Brown is a priority after missing on Nate Frazier. There appears to be a growing feeling that both Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington will head to the NFL after the 2023 season, which makes it important for Locklyn to keep adding talent to a room that projects to return Jordan James, Dante Dowdell and Jayden Limar in 2024.
The Ducks hold a commitment from Da'Jaun Riggs in the 2024 class and Brown would be a great lightning to Riggs' thunder at 6'0", 200 pounds.
The Washington running back has built strong relationships with multiple members of the staff and this is one of a handful of times where Dan Lanning has geography on his side.
The reason for the 6.5 confidence is because I feel good about this pick because of how long Oregon has recruited him, they still haven't hosted him on his official visit and they're poised to win a head-to-head recruiting battle against Michigan State--they've already done that a few times this cycle.
However, since there's no commitment date there's still some time for the Spartans to turn up the heat and get Brown back out to East Lansing for a game this season. It's worth mentioning that there are three Michigan State Crystal Ball Predictions on 247Sports.
I'll see if I'm feeling any differently as we wait for a decision date, but for now I think Brown ends up a Duck.
READ MORE: Oregon picks up new predictions to land elite 2024 linebacker